you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. see why millions of people have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. don't wait. call now. spraef right now on "andrea mitchell reports," state of play, my exclusive with secretary of state on afghanistan. secretary kerry denies the u.s. troop is open ended. >> years and years. >> let me put this very clearly. >> please. >> we are not talking about years and years. that is not what is contemplated. >> certainly what the afghans say. they confirmed a letter from the president.

>> that is not what is contemplated years and years. it is way shorter than years and years. >> north korea, back channel talks to try and free an 85-year-old california man, korean war vet, grandfather detained while touring pyongyang. >> they should release him. >> among other men. they have other people, too. these are all very, very disturbing choices by the north koreans of. >> are the chinese helpful? >> yes. >> harry reid goes nuclear and passes an unprecedented change. stopping filibusters. >> the senate is a living thing. to survive it, it has to change. >> we're not interested in having a gun to our head any

longer. you'll regret this and sooner than you think. >> could the jumbo jet stuck at an airport on a short runway finally make liftoff? >> good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. and before foreign relations committee on the hill today. he took a moment to talk about thee issues, imprisonment of a u.s. citizen, iran calling israel a rabid dog, afghanistan announcement committed to long-term troops there after combat forces leave next year. >> u.s. there potentially for years and years, american

lives -- >> let me very clearly. >> please. >> we are not talking about years and years. that is not what is contemplated. >> these certainly what the afghans say and nsc confirmed a letter from the president. >> that is not what is contemplated years and years. it is way shorter than any kind of years and years. it is to help the afghan military train, equip, advise. it's a period of time. but i have no cont plagues that i heard from the president or otherwise about some extended years and years. >> not until 2024 potentially? >> no, ma'am. crystal clear. >> a strong statement against what the supreme leader said about israel. >> i don't think -- we need to stay away from the invective right now. we need to engage in serious conversation. >> delicate time. >> debt cal time. >> i know lives are at stake, negotiations may be in play.

what can you say to pyongyang, the north koreans about the american being held? >> well, north korea really needs to recognize the dangerous steps it's taking on many front. treatment of its citizens, the startup of its nuclear reactor, its rededication to a nuclear policy, all contrary to what china, russia, the united states, and a republican korea and the world suggested as wise policy. i think that this is obviously one of those moments where north korea needs to figure out where it's heading and recognize that

the united states of america is not engaging, move away from these kind of provocative individual actions. among other people. they have other people, too. these are all very, very disturbing choices by the north koreans. we're hoping together with the chinese, we had a long conversation yesterday, our friends from australia. we need to get a clear plan of action we continue to move on because this kind of behavior -- >> are the chinese being helpful? >> yes. >> david axelrod senior political analyst for nbc and served as adviser to president obama during the the first term and joins me now.

couple of things to unpack there before i want to talk to you about the nuclear option. the afghanistan exit strategy. the president made very clear we're taking out combat troops by the end of 2014. if it turns out as richard engel and others are reporting in kabul that we're there years and years at nine locations that could be called bases. with billions more invested, most importantly american lives, what is the political import for the president? >> it's a tough issue. this country, as the president noted, is weary of war. there's a burden on the administration to demonstrate as secretary kerry suggested this is a limited engagement. now in terms of counter-terrorism, andrea, you know better than most there are real threats.

a lot of threats emanate from that reason. there's reasons you need counter-terrorism forces there. the president has to balance responsibilities protecting americans, the real sentiment of the american people about being elsewhere in the world right now. they will have to work issues through. >> i'm sure the president and advisers would feel better if they weren't dealing with hamad karzai, undenied reports of cash, cia cash going to him, his relatives and others. the corruption there as well. it's a pretty poor choice between that on the one hand and resurgent taliban on the other. >> i think the hard calculations you have to make is what do you need to do to keep the american people safe. the president has been very assiduous about that. i expect he'll continue to be. he also has a very strong

feeling about the need to invest here in the u.s., as he said many times the country we need to build is our own, but we have to do it in an environment that is as safe as possible. these are the hard choices. that's why you get the big bucks, right? >> yeah, those big bucks you get when you're a white house adviser. >> you get a plane. i'm talking about him. yes. >> lets talk about the nuclear option. there was an ominous warning, the minority leader, you will regret this sooner than you think obviously suggesting in 2014 many more democratic incumbents at risk. we saw a couple of them voting against the democrats on this. carl levin meeting the senate but not liking the president.

jo mansion voting against minority. this has never been done countered against hundreds of informal filibusters against this president compared to a handful in the past. >> i don't think anybody is enthused about this. certainly not harry reid. he's been a longtime opponent. when you're faced with the situation where half the filibusters against executive appointments have taken place under this administration where you have a literal blockade against appointments to the d.c. circuit court because the republicans don't want to seat democratic appointees on that court. in fact, they have gone to the lengths of saying they want to cut three seats from that court to prevent a democratic majority on the court. president roosevelt made a mistake when he ride to pack the courts. they are trying to unpack the

courts. when under the circumstances to the point of one after another turned down, you're left with no option. harry reid did today what i'm sure was hard for him to do as a man of the senate but also required of him as a man of the senate to make it work. >> cloture votes protect minorities. democrats may be in the minority after 2014. >> there's no doubt about it. in a sense, i would argue any president, they are blocking nominees right now. i don't know it will materially change this president's situation. you will go back and forth like this. but i think the american people are tired of gridlock. they want to see the system work. they elected a president. the president ought to have the appointees of his choice within reason. we have qualified people and everybody agrees they are

qualified and they are blocked anyway. then you have a big problem. i don't see that harry reid had any choice here. >> fascinating. a new day in the senate. none of us see anything quite happened like this. >> the thing is when you talk about nuclear options here, i'm always trying to figure out are we talking about iran, are we talking about the senate, could be anything. >> could be anything these days. >> yes. >> thank you very much, david. good to see you. >> good to be with you. >> thanks for being with us. we have other headlines kennedy cousin michael skakel i walking free. after being behind bars for the murder of his neighbor martha moxley. he posted bond and awaiting a new trial. his murder conversation overturned last month. he successfully argued his trial lawyer had done such a poor job he deserved a new trial.

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i would think there are people in this room encouraging you to look beyond this job. >> no. everyone here is laser focused on 2015. no one mentioned anything else. do the best job you can in 2014. >> chris christie taking over as head of the republican governor's meeting in arizona giving him a national launching pad, as if he needed more of a pad to launch. with all of his national attention nbc's kelly o'donnell out there in scottsdale trailing with the governor. you've seen his responses at the news conference. i want to ask you about that in a moment. what's the feeling among his governors. he's got such a large stage and so much attention as the governor right across the river from new york with all the media he's been getting. is there any resentment that you've picked up? >> i've certainly been trying to get at that, andrea, talking to various governors. all of them feel as heads of their own states they have standing here and a voice.

and some credibility from their own perspective. they will easily admit to competition amongst the states, trying to attract jobs. they are good at politically rebuffing me when it comes to the 2016 question saying plenty of time to stage campaigns to run for higher office. chris christie has gotten a lot of attention. he was chosen by his fellow governors to hold this position as chair of the rga. bobby jindal outgoing chair will be working together, traveling the country, raising money, trying to bring attention to races around the country. that gives him political cover to make trips and talk to important donors. you can't separate working on behalf of rga as well as the state of new jersey and own personal political positions, you can't tease those out. it's certainly been talked about quite a lot here. >> and at the news conference

you asked him about his criticism of washington, which, of course, means majority house. lets play a little bit of that. >> everybody. the fact is these people's job is to run the government. that's what they were sent there to do. the frustration many feel is they are a headwind instead of a tail wind. that's not productive for the citizens we're all privileged to represent. >> so he's not going to ease up on the criticism of washington even republican house leaders, kelly. interesting platform for chris christie. thank you so much out there in skates detail. coming up we have more of our special coverage marking 50th anniversary of president john f. kennedy's assassination. one can only imagine how kennedy would fare in today's 24/7 plugged in media environment.

first live debate from richard nixon to 64 televised -- 64 mind you -- press conferences in office, kennedy was truly the first television candidate. the charismatic and hand some president was a quick study of this new media. >> would you tell us generally your feelings about your press conferences today. >> well, you subject me to some abuse not any lack of respect i don't think. >> could you give us your appraisal of significance of changes in the soviet union in terms of the future of east-west relations? >> no. i think it would take at least a half hour program on national network. i couldn't comment on that. i always wanted to design a bike that honored those who serve our country. and geico gave me that opportunity.

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crisis, we've confirmed 215 judges and defeated two. we took exactly the same view senate democrats took during the bush administration. i would summit up by saying it's a sad day in the history of the senate. >> joining me now is john heilemann, msnbc political analyst, mark halperin, authors of "double down, game change 2012." lets talk to you guys about the nuclear option and what happened on capitol hill. we know harry reid didn't want to do this. talking about vote after vote for d.c. court of appeals, second highest court you said supreme court, eminently qualified people. what do you think forced harry reid finally to take this step which john heilemann, could hurt the democrats if they become a men ort in 2014. >> this frustration has been building for a long time. there's no question if you look

over history, the use of the filibuster has become one could say abused over the course of the last four or five years. i think on the question of the judicial nominations, they reached the point they couldn't tolerate the notion seats on the court would go unfilled and nothing the president could do. nothing to do with the quality of the nominees or anything about them but just a matter of pure -- what senator reid sees as unbreakable intransigence. he felt he had to do something at the risk of what might happen in the future. >> interesting, mark halperin, that mark pryor up for re-election, joe manchin not up for re-election, but from red state west virginia and carl levin leaving the senate but a believer, i guess, in the old way of doing things. thinking about legacy and thinking about tradition. three democrats voting with the republicans. >> yeah, my guess is if those votes were needed senator reid might have found a way to get

them. it's testament to just how absurdly partisan and negative our politics has become that this day happens. it's a big deal. you go back to when the nuclear option was raised in the bush years. it was called nuclear option for a reason. it happens and seen as next logical step in the face-off. there's no doubt democrats feel passionately. if you go back to the clinton years and bush years and obama year their presidents, democratic presidents have not gotten as many of their people on the court as president bush did and president reagan and the first president bush did. a lot of democrats feel like this long history needs to be evened out. they know full well it could haunt them. they feel they have no option given what the republicans have done playing pure politic, keeping president obama to fulfill his political right to remake the court as he sees fit

with senate approval. >> and to both of you guys we watched yesterday president obama awarding the medal of freedom to bill clinton. in so doing saying he appreciates the counsel he gets on and off the golf course from bill clinton, which immediately made everyone think of "double down" and when you guys reported how after that first make up golf game he said they didn't complete 18 holes. he said he likes bill clinton in doses. is that right, mark? >> that's right. their relationship has taken lots of twists and turns. we wrote about in "game change" and since in "double down" last week with president clinton's comments on affordable care act not doing any favors in the short-term. yesterday president obama speaking publicly and warmly. i think the golf reference was pretty funny and testament to

how nuanced their relationship is. without a doubt we have not seen the final chapter. hillary clinton if she runs for president, the relationship between the two couples is a big deal going forward. >> john heilemann, what do you think of chris christie takes over rga, not that he needs a national platform, not that rga helped launch bobby jindal and presidential hopes but it does give him a way of traveling the country. >> it does. he's going to be out there. there is a lot of different ways you can go around the country as a presidential candidate as you know, collecting chits, building up debts, getting to see a lot of the country, getting to road test a message. those are all things chris christie will get to do over the stint of rga and do it while doing what he says he wants to do, help republican governors get elected. no doubt in my mind part of what he'll be doing is spreading his national profile, spreading his national wings and getting much more exposure he would have gotten had he not taken this

job. >> according to your reporting in double down, you've got a lot of back story of what went on when they were trying to vet him for the romney campaign, did he hurt himself at all with other republicans by arguably not doing a good job and not being a team player enough. >> i think insiders, particularly those working hard for governor romney who felt at the convention and in the aftermath of superstorm sandy that he didn't do enough to put governor romney's interest. governor christie has a different perspective on that as we detail in the book. i find some burned off. the chief fundraiser for governor romney clearly very upset in the aftermath of sandy with governor christie yet he met with governor christie not that long ago. he's inclined to help perhaps if governor christie runs for president. some of those sore feelings the party has gotten over. the party is so hungry for a

winner, if chris christie turns out to be the best bet who can win in 2016, i think a lot of that stuff will be water under the bridge. chris christie has as much potential as everyone, with jeb bush, to be the republican. >> you could say two for the price of one, thank you both very much. >> thanks, andrea. >> thanks, andrea. and right now harry reid is responding to the criticism by mitch mcconnell to the vote, changing filibuster rules. >> what would you do? what would you do, i said. he just the two of us -- not didn't want to, he said i'm not answering that question. everyone knows what's going on is unfair and wrong. i'm glad we changed it. a day of freshness for this great question of ours. tim durbin.

>> there comes a tipping point. today was that tipping point in the united states senate. how do we reach this point? we tried to reach agreements, friendly agreements between the republican senate. we tried different ways. one of the last, no filibusters unless there are extraordinary circumstances. that was the phrase. extraordinary circumstances. it turns out the extraordinary circumstance in the eyes of many republican senators was the re-election of barack obama. that gave them free license to oppose his nominees. not just for the courts but for many important executive agencies as well. a complete breakdown of an effort to solve this problem in a reasonable, common sense, good faith fashion. there was another tipping point. that tipping point came about nominees to the d.c. circuit court. patricia mallet, born in my state, an extremely well qualified person, argued 32

cases about the u.s. supreme court. she was endorsed by both political parties when they were asked whether or not she could be bipartisan, nonpartisan, add to that a professor from georgetown university law school and then robert wilkins, he, too, nominated. all stopped by a filibuster. not a single person on the republican side stood up to criticizes their qualifications for the job. it had nothing to do with their qualifications, it was to deny president obama an opportunity to fill these slots on the court. that's what it came down to. then to add absolute political insult to injury, what they did to our friend and colleague congressman mel watt. it's been since 1842 -- >> 1843. >> since the senate denied a member of congress an opportunity for an executive appointment and they did it to mel watt. a lawyer who had served in the house banking committee with distinction appointed by the

president and stopped cold by the republican filibuster. now, if you listened, i hope you did, i did, to the speech given by senator mcconnell, here is what you could synthesize and condense it to. the note of filibustering judges was a democratic idea. they abused it and we did, too. >> dick durbin, the second ranking democrat with harry reid saying they had no option but to take the nuclear option. we will continue to report that as well. meanwhile, major differences delay closed door talks in geneva, second round of talks to curb the program for relief. did sit down with top european official katherine ashton discussing details and wording. secretary of state john kerry told me and told the senate that the ayatollah's latest did he enunciation as a rabid dog was

not helpful. >> it's inflammatory and unnecessary. i think at this moment when we're trying to negotiate and figure out what can and can't be achieved, the last thing we need are names back and forth. >> these talks are expected to take place. joining me a prominent israeli journalist and author of a new book, "my promised land." congratulations on that. a very provocative booed indeed. you did write an op-ed about the iran talks. your posture there is that if george bush, george w. bush had not gone with the axis of evil and ignored opens after 9/11, we had a path to some sort of dialogue during a brief window with iran. they might not have made the progress they now made. >> absolutely. i think as the negotiations go on, we must be honest. to be honest, we must admit both united states and my country

israel totally failed in stopping the iranian nuclear project. my claim is the best time to deal with it was under president bush. the best way to deal with it was a very harsh assertive diplomacy approach. i hope it's not too late but it's the very last moment. therefore after a decade of failure, we must be honest about it and not go to wishful thinking and make believe solutions. >> you think the current negotiating posture, six-month deal that will leave them with centrifuges and breakout capacity and with the implicit right to enrich uranium. lets talk about israel's posture. the prime minister so aggressive and israel's lobbying on the hill has been so aggressive on this and has so angered the administration that many people believe that, in fact, netanyahu and israel now are going to take a much harder line on the israeli-palestinian negotiations

to sort of get back at john kerry for what he's doing ongoing iran nuclear front and what you really care about in "my promise land" what you feel for israel to survive as democracy they have to have a palestinian state, can't keep building settlements, can't continue occupying. caused you a lot of grief. these things are linked. >> lets talk, something about iran. look, i think prime minister netanyahu in many ways gets, analyzes the iranian challenge correctly. i think he sees things rather clearly. i think he made many mistakes, the main one not making major concessions on the palestinian issue soel get the legitimacy needed to deal with iran. that was his main mistake. my advice to anyone watch, iran is too important an issue to have as israel issue or netanyahu issue. the linkage between netanyahu and iran is wrong. iran is relevant to anyone

living in north america and europe, to any westerner, anyone who wants a safe world. if god forbid goes nuclear, israel would be in jeopardy, our entire civilization would be in jeopardy. we must know that. so the situation we keep talking about netanyahu, what he says right, what is wrong, the whole thing is wrong. this should be a grand effort of all western countries to stop iran in the very last moment. why? if iran goes nuclear, we'll have a multi-polar nuclear system in the most dangerous area in the world. saudi arabia will go nuclear, egypt, turkey, algeria. you'll have a hellish world. our life in that region will be hellish, but it will affect new york and washington and boston. lets get beyond -- lets put the netanyahu debate aside and debate about the israeli policy, this is really an issue for all of us, a challenge for all of us.

>> that's yours. you own it. it is going in the wrong correction. >> absolutely. my approach, if i may, i'm a two-state solution guy. i really believe to have a jewish democratic state. i believe -- i love my country, i'm critical of much of its policies i love it. i think israel is a man made miracle. this is in jeopardy because of occupation. occupation and settlement are the cancer killing us. they are killing our morality, legitimacy. it's killed us politically and we must deal wit. the great mistake done over years by israeli in the international community he promised either occupation or peace tomorrow. what i urge, a third way approach, which means even peace cannot be achieved, i have doubts peace can be achieved, we must deal with a kind of plan b which enabled us to gradually, cautiously end occupation while

the palestinians are doing their nation building. i do not believe we will see a white house lawn ceremony. i don't believe we will see nobel prizes. we have to deal with this challenge for israel and for the palestinians in a practical manner with a fresh approach. we cannot repeat the same ideas that failed for 20 years. yes, i'm all for giving palestinians liberties, i want them to have a state. we must have a different approach to achieve that goal. >> the book is fascinating and, as i say, very provocative. we have to leave it there. to be continued. we'll be right back. and our networks are getting crowded. but if congress, the fcc, and the administration free up... more licensed wireless spectrum, we can empower more... people to innovate, create new technologies and jobs... and strengthen the economy. america is the world's leader in wireless.

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a few moments ago in the briefing room, the president is coming into the briefing room to talk about filibusters, court nominees and nuclear option that has been approved by the senate. we'll bring it to you live, of

course. in history, five months before john f. kennedy was killed he proposed a nuclear test ban, negotiations with soviet union, an end to the cold war. it was a major foreign policy address at a commentment here at an american university. >> i speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men. i realize the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war. frequently the words of the pursuers fall on deaf ears but we have no more urgent task. >> for his top foreign policy advisers undermining his stralt guy. a new documentary, "jfk, betrayed" where kennedy's steps to detente were undermined by hawkish advisers. here is a clip from the documentary. >> jfk ordered to send a cable

that instructed goldbraith. he penciled out the part that calls for mutual de-escalation. he actually sat on the negotiating table. in fact when one of his subordinates tried to write a cable headed in that direction, he said, no, we're not going to do that. there was never a cable sent. it was an astonishing case of a leading official completely subverting an explicit order from the president for trying to carry out a diplomatic policy. >> joining me now are two men had had a unique perspective.

special assistant to both john and bobby kennedy and sergei kruschev, son of nikita khruschev, son of the soviet leader. what is the real hard evidence that john f. kennedy was seeking detente. in some of his speeches and writings he gave hard line instructions. there's a lot of argument as to what he would have done, had he lived, in vietnam. >> i think president kennedy had a difficult relationship with the soviets, but the missile crisis turned it around. in the face of almost unanimous recommendations from his military leaders, the president refused to invade cuba and resorted to a diplomatic settlement and opened up the ways for new negotiations in the world, such as the atomic test ban. he accomplished that. then in the speech at the american university on june

10th, 1963, he laid out a vision of the world. i think prime minister khruschev responded to intelligently that would have been a lot of tough negotiations to make it happen. but kennedy by this time, whatever his advisers thought, had a very clear idea of how to advance it himself. >> mr. khruschev, your father and what his impression was of both president kennedy and his top advisers, key adviser, bobby kennedy during the missile crisis after the missile crisis, what was his impression of the american intendings of the kennedy brothers? >> he told he can work with kennedys because missile crisis proved they can negotiate. through this negotiation to find some agreement that will be suitable for both sides. also in his speech the defense

council in february 1963, he said the same as president kennedy. different than american president. he defend his country, i defend my country. we have one in common. we want to preserve the peace. and we can work together. >> was very much the case, though, to both of you, ambassador, in those first meetings we were watching in vienna that khruschev -- nikita khruschev really took the measure of jack kennedy when he was first elected. and thought that he could really run circles around him. >> he took the measure of a young president who had had the failure of the bay of pigs and was not otherwise tested. and the major issue was what the future of berlin was going to be. when the soviets helped east germans build the wall in berlin, that i think we do

strangely, the tension between the two countries. by the time the missile crisis came it was possible to build a new relationship between soviets and united states and khruschev and kennedy. >> had kennedy lived, mr. khruschev, do you think the cold war might have ended sooner than it was? that kennedy in the american university speech was signaling something and that those messages were being received in moscow? >> yes. i think that the cold war can be ended in the end of the '60s. my father told that that system will take over, will win, not more military strength but present better life to the people. so he wanted to change this pattern and he wanted to move over the economical competition not to the -- just military confrontation. >> of course the military confrontation then escalated. we had the tragedy of vietnam as

well as the breshnev era and went for decades more of spending enormous amounts of money on nuclear weapons and on our military's conventional nuclear. >> but the tragedy of vietnam was not induced by the soviets, it was our own. >> clearly our own. do you think that the military advisers were misleading the president and also some of the diplomats as well, as we've seen really trapped him and, of course, lbj into making all the mistakes they made on vietnam? >> i think president kennedy was in a stronger position to understand what the advisers were saying and to resist and reject their advice. i think president johnson had much less familiarity with foreign policy concentrated on domestic policy and did a brilliant job. by the time he came to the questions of vietnam, i don't think he had the background

president kennedy had who understood the age of colonialism was over and time had come for america to align itself with different forces in the far east. >> fascinating story. we thank so much sergei khrusch khruschev, ambassador, it's on demand and in theaters across u.s. open tomorrow november 22nd in new york and l.a. >> thank you, andrea. >> the president is coming up live moments from now in the briefing room. we will bring all of that to you as well. back in a moment. [ female announcer ] ladies and gentlemen i'm here to say a few words about the power of baking stuff with nestle toll house morsels. you can heal a broken heart with a bundt cake. make a monday mornin' feel like a friday afternoon with some nestle toll house morsels. let's close our laptops and open our ovens. these things don't bake themselves. we have to bake them for one another. we can bake the world a better place

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and welcome back. as you see the briefing room is ready. the president will be coming in. chris, you at -- you're the resident expert on the history of cloture votes and defcon 5,

4, 3, 2, 1 it's the first time it's happened in the history of the senate. go i have that right? >> that's right, andrea. a lot led up to this day, andrea. one of the most amazing things to me is you have a huge influx of new senators. i don't mean young, but inexperienced senators and you have tons of institutional tradition defending senators, bob byrd, ted kennedy, jay rockefeller. the list goes on and on. so you have a fundamental change. there have been 40 new senators -- 40 new senators, 20 democrats, 20 republicans elected since 2008. so you have a huge influx of that. you have a party polarization growing, you have a lack of relationship between mitch mcconnell and harry reid and you have the danger of being primaried by the right.

thad cochran has a primary charge, lamar alexander has a primary challenge. all add up to the -- make something happen as someone who has spent the last -- longer than 15 years watching this, i would not have said five years ago that this was a possibility. it was sort of the thing they always invoked to make things happen, but that it might not ever really happen. but i think it marks we're in a different time, a different able, andrea, historically in terms of partisanship and what is and what is not possible. i think today's vote is a reflection of that. >> there have been hundreds of cloture votes for routine matters in this senate as compared to previous senates. so that's the harry reid argument. we can't get anything done. >> that's right. and i would say, andrea, i think the reason that we haven't seen the nuclear option invoked until today is probably harry reid. democrats have controlled the

senate since the 2006 election and reid talking to the past advisers and current advisers, i think he was loathe to do it. i think he understood the dangers of it. carl levin from michigan who voted against it, spoke out a against about the dangers. look, this makes it a majority rule chamber whether you like it or not. i think reid felt as though he was out of options. he thought that the blockading, particular particularly the blockading, the republicans didn't like things like the consumer product safety board. not that they didn't think the people being nominated were a good or at least sort of an adequate fit there. they didn't like the idea of it. i think you heard harry reid say that. look, you don't have to like the laws but you have to acknowledge them. so i think he had reached the breaking point and we saw the vote today. remarkable day. >> joining us now is chuck todd in the briefing room. we can see you, chuck, in the wide shot as we wait for the president to come in. what is the president likely to say because this does mean that

if the democrats are going to lose in the midterms, pay back is going to be very sweet for mitch mcconnell. majority will rule. >> i mean, that's clearly the threat that the republicans are throwing out there today. let's take a step back here. i think this is the culmination of the power of special interest groups. it used to be a no vote was enough. and then when it became where -- and both parties have been doing this over the years, the willingness to use the filibuster to stop nominations that you didn't like, to have the ideological fights, be it on the left or the right, so then if you weren't supporting the filibuster but you were voting no it wasn't enough and you got punished. so i think that this is really to me -- it's the special interest groups had run amok on this process. and i wouldn't be surprised if you had a private conference with the senators. they're secretly glad not to have to deal with this filibuster nonsense and all this

back and forth. and literally go back to sort of the normal confirmation process that we were a little more used to in the '80s and the '90s rather than sort of when the use of the filibuster in the confirmation process. remember, that's where this is really escalated. big showdown in 2005 between senate democrats and the bush white house and then two -- a couple of showdowns between senate republicans and the obama white house. i think we have to remember sort of, i think this is because special interest groups have become so powerful. if a no vote wasn't enough, you were showing you were willing to filibuster, that became the new hurdle. i think that's where this process got frankly -- just got to the point where we got to today. >> which of course brings us back to money. and we see the president coming out behind you or at least the notes are coming out. we got the two minute warning. >> yes. >> the other thing that happened

was that john mccain yesterday met with harry reid again. the last time this showdown occurred over the national labor relations board, they did work it out. but on this -- on the d.c. circuit it was too important to the real hard line roots to block those judges from being put on the second highest court to the supreme court. the supreme court we should point out, those confirmations are excluded from this and some normal business does get done or at least it did. the senate banking committee recommended that janet yellin would be recommended as the chair and that would have gone to the floor and now it could get conceivably caught up in the back wash over this. chuck, what is the president likely to say? this is not that he wants -- that the traditions have changed? >> right. it will be more of a somber not a celebratory thing. don't forget, this is something right now the base of the democratic party, particularly

the activist base, not in a good place. not feeling good about health care. this has been something that something on the activist base have been wanting harry reid to do for a while. so i think this is also about a moment of reassurance to the democratic base who is feeling a little bit, you know, under attack and under siege a little bit because of how poorly the health care rollout is going. >> let's talk about the likely next steps as far as the senate is concerned? just normal business? >> well, you saw harry reid quickly turn to the defense authorization bill. i think they do not want to make a huge deal of this, because harry reid wants to say look, the rules change, they don't want to make a huge deal of it. i would argue that republicans shouldn't make a huge deal of it -- >> and here is the president, chris, so let's -- as chuck sits down, let's listen to the president. >> it's no secret that the american people have probably

never been more frustrated with washington. and one of the reasons why that is is that over the past five years, we have seen an unprecedented pattern of obstruction in congress that's prevented too much of the american people's business from getting done. all too often, we have seen a single senator or a handful of senators choose to abuse arcane procedural tactics to unilaterally block bipartisan compromises or to prevent well-qualified patriotic americans from filling critical positions of public service in our system of government. now, at a time when millions of americans have desperately searched for work, repeated abuse of these tactics have blocked legislation that might create jobs. they have defeated actions that would help women fighting for equal pay. they have prevented more progress than we would have liked for striving yo